Like in the Movies
by TheGirlWhoRemembers
Summary: "The occasional uncanny resemblance aside, life isn't like in the movies." Afterwards, Jack, Bozer and Riley watch a certain, much-loved movie, while Mac has more weird dreams (albeit without unicorns and quantum physics). Episode tag to 2.20, Skyscraper – Power.


AN: Spoilers for 2.20, Skyscraper – Power, as well as _Star Wars: A New Hope_ and _Coco._ Thoughts on the ep at the end of this one-shot, also with spoilers.

* * *

 _The occasional uncanny resemblance aside, life isn't like in the movies._

 _Loose ends don't always get tied up neatly, and we definitely don't always get the chance to rectify our mistakes…_

* * *

 **PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

 **SOMEWHERE IN LA**

* * *

Matty turned and gave Riley a nod and a smile as the EMP was secured in the Phoenix's evidence locker. The hacker smiled back, and Jack, standing on her other side, reached out and put an arm around her shoulders, looking every inch a proud father-figure.

* * *

… _and not everyone gets a shot at redemption._

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

Bozer walked into the living room from the kitchen, bearing three beers and a bowl of popcorn. He handed the popcorn to Riley, followed by a bottle of beer, and she shot him a grateful smile in return.

He grinned, and plonked himself down on the couch next to her, taking a long swig of his beer, then pointed at her.

'I just wanna say, you owned that second chance. Like seriously, _owned.'_

Riley laughed, but reached out and bumped her fist to Bozer's with a rather soft smile.

'Thanks, Boze.' She rolled her shoulders. 'I feel a lot better now that it's locked up securely at the Phoenix.' Her expression grew more wry. 'And that it's useless after Mac got at it.'

Bozer chuckled.

'Yeah, maybe we should've just let him destroy it rather than steal it back in the first place…' His expression grew more serious. 'You had red in your ledger, now you've wiped it out?'

Riley gave a little snort and pointed at him with her beer.

'Nice.' Her expression, too, turned serious. Very serious. 'And yeah, in more ways than one.'

It wasn't a bitter statement, but it was definitely weighty, and definitely heartfelt.

(She'd done some pretty bad things in her past. Nothing that kept her awake at night, but definitely stuff she wasn't all that proud of.)

(She had red in her ledger. Not like the Black Widow, but red nonetheless. More red than Bozer or Mac or even Jack had, definitely.)

(Her work for the Phoenix now?)

(That was wiping it out.)

At that moment, Jack strode back in from the deck, where he'd been checking on Mac through the glass door to his room.

He rubbed his hands together with glee as he saw the DVD case and the bowl of popcorn and the third, still-cold beer on the coffee table.

Jack flopped into the armchair, and picked up his beer.

'Sleeping Beauty's fast asleep, probably dreaming he's lecturing unicorns about canton field theory again.'

Riley and Bozer just looked at the older man, brows quirked.

'You mean _quantum_ field theory?'

Bozer turned to Riley, incredulous.

'That whole sentence and _that's_ what you choose to comment on?' Riley shrugged a shoulder, and took a drink from her beer. Bozer stared at her for a beat longer, then turned to Jack. ' _Unicorns_ , seriously?'

Jack, too, shrugged, taking a deep draught from his beer.

'I don't understand most of what goes on in our boy's big brain, and I reckon I don't wanna…'

* * *

 _People don't change overnight…_

* * *

 **JERICO RESIDENCE**

 **(WELL, ONE OF THEM)**

 **(YOU KNOW BILLIONAIRES…)**

 **(WELL, YOU PROBABLY DON'T)**

 **(BUT THE POINT STANDS)**

 **HONG KONG**

* * *

'…Dad, come see what I made!'

Ethan Jerico ran into the dining room, curls a little askew and grinning widely. On his request, his dad had bought him some fun practical science books, and he'd eagerly made a start on the most awesome of the experiments described. Ralph Jerico didn't even look up from his laptop and the print-outs littering the dining table, speaking on autopilot.

'Not now, Ethan, I'm busy.' Ethan's face fell, and his dad seemed to snap out of autopilot, and looked up at him, something that seemed almost apologetic on his face. (Ethan knew his dad was _not_ one for apologizing, so that was really something.) The billionaire glanced at his watch. 'How about at 6, just before dinner?'

Ethan's grin returned, and with a lot more mischief, he pointed at his dad.

'Don't you dare be late, mister!'

Then, he ran back out again, towards the room he'd taken over as his 'workshop.'

Ralph Jerico shook his head, with the closest thing to fond exasperation he'd ever admit to feeling clear on his face.

His son definitely had a mouth on him. Plenty of sass and spirit and fire.

He'd definitely gotten that from his mom.

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

Mac grunted and rolled over in his sleep, expression turning pained…

* * *

He was secured to a chair in a windowless, steel room. The restraints were futuristic and seemingly without a lock that he could perhaps pick, or even any joins or hinges. There was only one other person in the room, a black-clad, ominous man, whose face was obscured by shadow.

He knew, instinctively, that this was a bad guy. A Bad Guy with capital letters.

The head of The Organization.

Or The Ghost.

Or someone just as bad. Just as powerful. Just as dangerous. And just as evil.

The man spoke as Mac continued to struggle, trying to free himself, as futile as it seemed.

'There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you. Angus, you do not realize your importance. You have only just begun to discover your power! Join me, and I will complete your training! With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict, and bring order to the galaxy!'

Mac thrust his chin out in stubborn defiance and anger.

'I'll never join you!'

The man chuckled.

'If only you knew the power of the Dark Side…Jack never told you what happened to your father.'

'He told me enough! He told me you killed him!'

The Bad Guy laughed again.

'No, I _am_ your father.'

* * *

Mac rolled over again, expression lightening, a smile growing on his face…

* * *

He was in a cave, cold and wet, dressed in medieval or fantasy-style clothing: a simple tunic and trousers.

There was a man sitting opposite him, on the other side of the fire, blue-eyed with formerly blonde hair liberally streaked with grey, and several visible scars, dressed much the same. This stranger had just rescued him from an angry mob who'd wanted to burn him at the stake for witchcraft.

'I'm sorry, kid.'

Mac sighed, running a hand through his hair.

'It's my fault. Bozer told me to not to do it, since Farmer Wilson already has it out for me.' He sighed, pulling out his Engineer's Knife, a multi-purpose tool he'd invented and forged himself. 'But I didn't listen. I just couldn't help myself.'

He'd already moved three times, twice with his grandfather, then once with Bozer after his grandfather had passed away, because of the supposed 'witchcraft' he could do.

His mysterious saviour pulled a necklace out from around his neck and began to toy with it. A rose pendant, made of gold. It was well-cared-for, shiny and polished, and it caught the light of the fire, and Mac's eye.

He stared at it for a long moment, just to be sure, because surely, it couldn't be…but he'd know that necklace anywhere. It was one of the only things his dad had taken with him…

He jumped up to his feet.

'Where did you get that? That was my mom's!'

The man looked up at him, eyes wide, surprised, off-balance, for the first time.

'It was my wife's.'

The two of them stared at each other for a long, long moment.

'You…'

'We're…'

They spoke in unison.

'Family.'

Mac's dad jumped up and hugged him, or Mac bounded over and hugged him; neither of them were quite sure, but it really didn't matter.

After a long, long moment, they let go of each other, and Mac just stared at the man who'd saved him using what the townsfolk would call 'witchcraft', but he called 'engineering', both of them grinning like madmen.

'My whole life…there's been something that's made me different. And I never knew where it came from. But now, I know! It comes from you!'

He reached out and hugged his dad again, and was hugged back just as tightly.

'I'm proud we're family, son.'

* * *

Mac woke up as the sun filtered through the window, and sat up slowly in bed, shaking his head as the half-remembered jumble of dreams tumbled through his head.

* * *

… _and safe to say, reunions aren't like in the movies either._

 _I don't think my dad's a bad guy._

 _But I don't think our reunion, if it really does happen, is going to be, well, sunshine and rainbows either. That's probably about as likely as finding a unicorn that's interested in and understands quantum field theory. Or even a whole class full._

 _It'll be somewhere in that complicated, messy in-between._

 _With all this build-up, no matter what happens, it's going to be anticlimactic._

 _It might not even be dramatic, honestly._

 _Then again, Boze has said since we were in high school that he was going to make a movie based on my life…_

 _Now he's saying it's probably going to be a TV show. He says it's a better format for my 'adventures.'_

 _Given what I do for a living…he's going to have to wait a long, long time before it can go into production._

 _You know, since he's got to wait for it to be declassified and all._

 _Let's just say that when it is, Bruce Willis is going to be too old to play Jack._

 _Just a little too old._

* * *

Mac walked into the living room, to find Jack, Bozer and Riley fast asleep, Jack in the armchair, the two younger people on opposite sides of the couch, a mostly-empty bowl of popcorn and three beer bottles on the coffee table. Judging by the DVD case also on the coffee table, they'd fallen asleep watching _Die Hard._

(Mac had long ago modified the TV to turn itself off it if didn't sense someone's gaze on it.)

(The sensors had been a pain to calibrate, but he'd eventually gotten it right.)

He smiled and shook his head fondly, then walked into the kitchen and grabbed his pancake-making toaster, before going to the pantry for the flour.

 _Today's a good day to…eat pancakes._

* * *

AN: How was that? I probably laid on the movies theme too much…but hey, I blame the source material! :P Do you think my interpretations about the Jericos, Riley's attitude towards her job, and Mac's father make sense? And yes, I really could not resist that meta joke at the end! I can't take ownership of most of the dialogue from Mac's dreams, which is lifted from _A New Hope_ and _Coco._

Thoughts on the ep: It was a very _MacGyver_ episode, methinks, if that makes sense? A high-stakes mission with heaps of silliness and fun, a sceptic of Mac won over, a clear link between the mission/people they encounter on the mission and the team's personal lives, a cheesy and corny but heartfelt speech by Mac at the end…Anyway, I enjoyed it, and I do like the tie-in they had with the second ep and Riley having unfinished business. I also really liked the Mac and Bozer scene at the end – I feel they haven't had enough screen-time with just the two of them lately; even in 2.16, Hammock + Balcony, I really would have liked one more scene featuring their relationship and the Leanna situation (hence my episode tag, _All My Secrets Away)._ They better give us a decent resolution to Mac's search for his dad, with all this build-up, though…

Any news on whether the show is going to be renewed or not? Why is it taking so long to be announced; anyone have a clue?


End file.
